TEMPLE, Texas – Convenience-store, grocery and foodservice distributor McLane Co. Inc. has rolled out Premium Order Management Suite (POMS) applications for Android and Apple iOS mobile devices.
The POMS applications for c-store and grocery retailers using Grocery Mobile gives customers the benefit of executing their ordering, receiving, inventory, reclamation and delivery management at 10 times the previous rate and lower cost, as well as increases profitability over time, the company said.
Since the rollout of Grocery Mobile, which launched in May, retail chains and independent McLane customers representing 1,500 stores have adopted that platform, the company said.
McLane has also added AirWatch mobility management software that controls which apps are downloaded to each customer device. Like any other cellphone-based program, software updates are automatically communicated to the user’s device.
Customers can use mobile devices they already own to access the apps rather than purchasing specialized equipment. Customers who want scanning functionality can add smartphone-compatible scanning hardware or opt for a custom McLane mobile device, which has built-in barcode scanning.
POMS applications supported on Grocery Mobile include:
- Ordering: Provides product images and search capabilities enabling retailers to create accurate orders. Store employees can simply scan barcodes, products or shelf tags to create an order or review a product’s order history. Up to three past orders reside on the device for easy review at delivery time.
- Store-Level Receiving: Reduces check-in time by an average of 50% by eliminating manual entry and enabling stores to scan in both McLane deliveries and deliveries from other distributors. The app automatically validates items against their approved price books and forwards inventory count to corporate for processing.
- Physical Inventory: Counts items by category or distributor to eliminate count fees charged by third-party back-office vendors. Because Grocery Mobile is compatible with many back-office systems, users can export count reports to their back office program for manual modification or view reports in Microsoft Excel or as a PDF.
- Store-Level Reclamation: Enables store personnel to quickly identify McLane items that can be returned for credit with real-time scanning. The app then electronically sends a file for processing so a credit can be issued.
- Direct-Store Delivery: Allows for non-McLane purchased products to be checked in, credits created and even images of those products to be viewed using the same program. Data is then sent to the retailers’ back-office system so double entry is eliminated.
McLane said it will roll out additional applications enabling customers to manage their entire supply chain in real time from a mobile device.
“Our customers are in the business to sell products, not buy or maintain technology,” said Deon Johnson, McLane’s vice president of customer technology. “They want us to provide easy-to-use software solutions no one else is providing that can be taken advantage of now, not six months or a year from now. Our mobile solution alleviates some of their costs and allows them to save time. It’s a value-add for our customers.”
Temple, Texas-based McLane is one of the largest distributors, providing grocery and foodservice supply chain solutions and services for convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and chain restaurants throughout the United States. McLane, through McLane Grocery, McLane Foodservice and wholly owned subsidiary Meadowbrook Meat Co. Inc., (MBM), operates 80 distribution centers across the United States and one of the nation’s largest private fleets. The company buys, sells and delivers more than 50,000 consumer products to nearly 90,000 locations nationwide. It provides alcohol-beverage distribution through its wholly owned subsidiary Empire Distributors Inc. McLane is a wholly owned unit of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
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